The Night The Lights Went Out In Oregon
by Gabriel Seraph
Summary: For fifteen years the power in Gravity Falls has been repeatedly going out at random intervals. Now, Dipper will meet a strange young woman who seems to have no idea what the United States of America are, and together they will discover yet another secret hidden within the town. Part 3 of the Dipper's Mirror Trilogy. Minor violence at worst, but rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is the third part of the Dipper's Mirror Trilogy. In keeping with the "mirror" aspect I'm doing each of the three parts in reverse order. Part 2 will also be a crossover with Adventure Time - it will, in addition, be Part 2 of my Marceline's Odyssey Trilogy. Confused? That's okay, so am I. But this idea was so awesome I couldn't keep it in my head too much longer.

Science? I don't need no stinking science! Sanity-free storytelling, that's the order of the day from me!

R&R and enjoy!

Chapter 1

Dipper opened the closet and pulled the library book off the shelf. It was the first book he'd bothered reading since moving out west, other than the mysterious journals. _Dies the Fire_ was written on the cover. For a second, Dipper tried amusing himself by failing miserably in his attempt to read the title in the mirror on the inside of the door.

Trying his best to tune out the faint sounds of Sev'ral Timez from Mabel's iPod, he settled on his bed and flipped the book open. It disturbed him a bit, seeing the depiction of a world where the power went out permanently. Especially since the book was set in and around Portland, not too far from Gravity Falls.

Lightning flickered in the distance, way over the mountains. The thunder took more than a minute to follow, very loudly. _Must be some storm_, Dipper thought, closing the book and reaching for the lamp to turn it out.

Except it went out all by itself when his hand was only inches away.

"Ugh! Dipper!" yelled Mabel. "I was trying to write in my diary here!"

"Sorry, Mabel," said Dipper, even though he hadn't done anything. He gingerly reached forward in the dark and grasped the lamp. But for whatever reason, it wouldn't turn on. "Huh," he said. "The storm must have knocked out the power."

Mabel laughed. "What storm? Hey, wait a second. My iPod's not working! What gives?"

"Your iPod...what?" Dipper was in a bit of a daze. He could hear a faint rumbling rising from underground somewhere. _What's going on? _he thought. _Earthquake?_

But it wasn't an earthquake. It was just the generator behind the Mystery Shack reactivating. The lamp came back on. Again, entirely on its own. Mabel's iPod came back on too. With a small squeal of delight, she put the earbuds back on and sat back down on her bed.

Dipper pulled a flashlight out from under his bed and turned it on. Nothing wrong with it. So what was going on with the power?

He stayed awake for hours that night, just waiting for something else to happen. At around midnight, the flashlight fizzled out once again, only to turn back on within a minute. It happened again at 1:30, by which time Dipper had finally given up trying to stay awake.

The next day, the power continued to go out intermittently, never for more than a minute at a time. But because of the fact that virtually everyone in town had a semi-permanent weirdness censor, nobody really noticed this. Or the fact that no airplanes were flying overhead. No cars were visiting the Mystery Shack. No supply trucks were coming to replenish the town's supply of soda pop and salty snacks. The phones weren't making any calls except local, and throughout the internet only the sites for the Gravity Falls Town Hall and Library could be accessed.

But nobody seemed to notice. All just another day in the life.

Or so they thought. And thought and thought. For the next fifteen years.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The young woman had heard so many stories about this place. It was a tiny tucked-away little corner of the California Commonwealth, and if the stories were true, the power never went out here, ever. Her parents would have killed her if they knew she was visiting this place. Never mind the fact that she was well into her twenties; being so far from home unsupervised was a big no-no. Especially given the widespread rumors that officers of the Monroe Militia, easily the most feared of the other republics, were out and about and armed to the teeth. Again, these stories came from the rumor mill and were very questionable at best, but it was said that if a Monroe soldier ever found you, your head would be sent back to your family in a cardboard box. There was even talk that the California National Guard was considering adopting this tactic for their own.

She smiled to herself. It had, after all, been her idea to add a new little embellishment to what appeared to be Monroe's favorite form of punishment. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise when families in Chicago or Philly got their fathers' heads back with nasty see-through bayonet wounds decorating their eyes?

Looking around, the girl realized she was in exactly the right place. Old cars, dating back to her childhood or even earlier, ran slowly through the streets. It was just like the old documentary videos her parents had told her about. Of course, without power, there was no way to enjoy them, but they sounded like great fun, just seeing something that, in this world of Civil War-era technology at best, would have been incredibly exciting to the young ones who had either been born after the Blackout, or were too young to really remember the days of electricity.

And, to provide the ultimate proof that the myth was real, a water tower loomed large over the town. It was quite a ways off, but the girl could still read the letters painted on it very boldly and clearly.

"Gravity Falls."

She didn't have much time to appreciate it, however, because a car came barreling down the street at that moment, easily exceeding seventy miles per hour. Inside, another young woman, one with windswept brown hair and wild-looking eyes, was whooping it up like nobody's business. Had it not been for the tall young man who pulled her away, she might have found herself being the world's first case of road pizza in fifteen years.

"Are you okay?" the man asked. When the woman nodded, he said, "Wait for it." Then his fingers tapped a silent countdown on his knee. Three, two, one...

As he passed the "one," all the cars on the street instantly came to a stop. Including the speeding one, which proceeded to run straight into a fire hydrant. The wild-eyed girl crawled out of it, yelling, "I'M OKAY! NOBODY WORRY!"

"Sorry about that," said the man. "The power keeps going out randomly. I've told Mabel to stop joyriding, but it's like she's a teenage boy inside. She never listens." He paused. "Never seen you around here before. What's your name?" He held out his hand.

"Sydney," said the woman, shaking his hand. "Sydney Affleck."

"Nice to meet you," said the man. "I'm Dipper Pines."

Sydney looked at all the cars on the street again, which now were starting to fire back up. "So, what's with the power?"

"It's been doing that for a long time and nobody knows why," said Dipper. "But I think I have an idea."

"You do? Really?"

"Yeah," said Dipper. "My old uncle had a bunch of secret stuff hidden under his place, and one of them started acting really funny when the power first went out for us. I think it might be keeping it on, but it's not really reliable..."

Sydney's face brightened. Was this the answer her parents were looking for? "Show me, please," she said.

"Wow, someone's an eager beaver," said Dipper. "All right, but first you gotta have some lunch. No offense, but when was the last time you ate?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

San Francisco, California

Governor Affleck ambled through the halls of what used to be an underground train station, humming an old pre-Blackout tune aimlessly. Of course, the guards who saw Affleck walk by knew better. The humming may have cast an air of eccentric harmlessness about the governor, but it was mere obfuscation. Like Professor Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books of old, Governor Affleck could be particularly ruthless and powerfully destructive when sufficiently provoked.

And in these war-torn Divided States of America, only a small amount of provocation would suffice.

Affleck carefully vaulted the no-longer-operational stile, even pushing against the slot where yesterday's travelers would enter their tickets (it was a mild compulsion that had always proven too tempting to resist, unnecessary as it was), then opened the door hidden amongst the little white honeycomb-patterned wall tiles. Inside, a soldier wearing the old US flag on his sleeve sat tied to a chair, looking quite bedraggled.

"So." The governor got to the point very quickly. "What information do you have for us?"

"Governor...your daughter. I saw her," the American soldier said.

"Where?"

The soldier started panting, as if he anticipated having water splashed in his face once again. "Up in Oregon somewhere. She was walking north."

Affleck sighed heavily. "Oh. Of course. Sydney always did talk about trying to find the mythical Gravity Falls. Very well. You may be returned to your cell."

At the governor's signal, a guard picked the American up by his underarms.

"Wait!" cried the soldier. "I thought you said you would let me go!"

Affleck laughed, pushing her long brown hair behind her ears. "Not until you give information vital to Commonwealth security. That's the rule. It is good that you've helped me figure out where to find my daughter, but you have something more important locked in that brain of yours." She tapped her high cheekbone, right underneath her eye. "I'll try again soon. In the meantime...feel free to enjoy our hospitality." She then turned to the guard. "And send the 5th National Guard out into Oregon. Grid-by-grid search. I'm sure Gravity Falls doesn't exist, but still...Sydney can't hide forever." _Not with the Monroe and Plains armies scouring the Cascades in search of that stupid nonexistent Tower,_ she thought to herself.

She set off again, continuing to hum the darkly catchy "Miss Jackson" under her breath. There was a song that would never get old. Maybe, one day when the power came back, her armies could use it as their battle hymn. The other so-called "republics" (all in name only, except maybe Georgia) would fear Miss Jackson and all the damage she portended.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dipper led Sydney into the tiny diner, where a couple of people were sitting and eating. "Well, what would you like to eat?" asked Dipper. "This machine can make whatever you ask it for." He gestured at a small metal-lined square box in the wall.

Sydney chewed her lip for a second. "I've always wanted to try salmon. No, pizza. No, salmon. No...I don't know what to choose!" She was practically hopping up and down with excitement, reminding Dipper of his own first day in the newly enhanced diner ten years earlier.

"How 'bout we compromise on that front and get...this?" Dipper scrolled out the retractable keyboard from underneath the screen and typed, "SALMON ALFREDO PIZZA." When Sydney looked at him oddly, he said, "It's one of the specialties of the Great Northwest. Or, at least, so it said on that old disc of _Community_ I found at the library once."

He hit the Enter key and the box closed down, made a loud grinding noise, then opened up again to reveal a foot-wide salmon alfredo pizza.

Sydney chuckled. "We can't possibly eat all that."

"Well, that's what doggie bags are for," said Dipper brightly. He took the pizza and carried it to one of the many free tables, this one being a window seat so he could watch the street and make sure Mabel didn't do anything else insane.

"So," Dipper said, turning to Sydney as she started eating a slice of pizza, "where are you from?"

Sydney swallowed her piece of pizza. "California," she said. "But then again, you should know that, you're Californian too."

"No," said Dipper. "We're in Oregon, north of California. Unless..."

"The whole world went dark fifteen years ago," Sydney explained, recounting what she'd learned in history class. "All the electricity was lost on the same day and nobody knows why. But there's been legends of a town in the northern part of the California Commonwealth where the power never went out."

"The California Commonwealth? What happened to America?" Dipper asked.

Sydney took another bite and swallowed. "Broke down into a bunch of other so-called 'republics.' California is nice enough, so is Texas and Georgia. The Plains Nation is just a bunch of tribes or something like that. But then there's the Monroe Republic. That's the places they used to call the Midwest and the Northeast."

"Including DC?" asked Dipper. "I used to live there," he added by way of explanation.

"I guess," said Sydney. "Got taken over by this former army guy called Monroe. Don't really remember his first name, it's something long so he goes by a weird nickname. Like some kind of fish, I dunno. But he's a paranoid asshat dictator. My mother wants to have his butt ground into the dirt."

"Why?"

"'Cause she's the governor of California," said Sydney. "So it's true? That Gravity Falls is the last place on earth that never had a Blackout?"

Dipper frowned. "Sort of. But the power keeps going out every so often. At least once every day, and never for more than a minute at a time. That's what I was gonna show you...the thing that I think is keeping it on."

"Your uncle's basement?" Sydney asked. "That's what you said, right?"

"Yeah," said Dipper. "You're not gonna believe it when you see it." He took a slice for himself. Unlike Sydney, he hadn't been very hungry and so he'd not even touched the pizza since it had emerged from the box. "But first, I gotta go pick up my sister," he said. "I really don't get why she keeps acting like a little kid."

"That was your sister?" asked Sydney. "That girl who crashed the car?"

Dipper laughed. "Yeah, and she'd better hope that nobody can claim that car. I really don't wanna have to resort to selling magic mushrooms again. You done eating?" Sydney nodded, and Dipper took a paper bag from the dispenser by the door so he could pack the pizza into it and take it with him. He loaded it into the trunk of his aged white Dodge Dart, and Sydney sat in the passenger seat, waiting for Dipper to start the car.

He did so, but didn't start moving out of the parking space yet. "Wait for it," he said. He did the three-two-one thing with his fingers again, and sure enough, once he reached "one," the car fizzled out. He pulled the key from the ignition and waited a full minute before starting it up again and moving on out.

"How did you do that?" asked Sydney.

"Magic," said Dipper as he pulled the car up to the curb right in front of Mabel, who was at that moment standing under a lamppost and sucking down a fresh orange Creamsicle (the ice cream cart had another one of those _Star Trek-_like replicator boxes.) "Mabel, throw that thing away and get in."

Mabel giggled. "Still don't want me soiling the inside of your precious Fanny?"

"For the last time, it's 'Dani,'" Dipper hissed.

"Who's Dani?" asked Sydney.

"That's what I call my car," said Dipper. "What? Back in the day it was really common for guys to name their cars."

"Yeah," Mabel laughed. "But for cool guys only, not dorks like you. And who's the girl? You finally stopped pining for-"

"Mabel, that's enough!" yelled Dipper. "Now quiet down before I dump you in the mushroom mine."

"You wouldn't."

"Who says?"

"You never have and you never will."

"That may very well change," said Dipper. "Just...stop. I mean it! Sit back and shut up. Please." He spun the white Dart around and started streaking it into the hills, towards the old Mystery Shack.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dani may have looked like an old rust bucket - and sure enough, she did have more than a few rust spots freckling her white body - but Dipper was so well acquainted with her that it was no trouble for him to drive the car the whole mile to the Mystery Shack in thirty seconds. And that was taking into account all the sharp turns and random passersby that kept entering the streets.

"Wow," said Sydney once they had arrived at the Mystery Shack, now with its "K" hanging down off the roof just like the "S." "No wonder you didn't let your sister eat her ice cream in the car."

Dipper smiled, but then it vanished from his face as he turned to the car, where Mabel was kicking up her feet against the back of the passenger seat. "Mabel, out," he said. "Just get inside and don't do anything. Okay?"

"Sure thing," said Mabel, emerging from the car and skipping up to the house, humming all the while. Just as she reached the door, she stopped and turned to Dipper, yelling, "Dipper! That stupid song of yours is stuck in my head again! Thanks a bunch!"

"You don't knock Miss Jackson, Miss Jackson knocks you!" Dipper called back.

Sydney perked up at the sound of the song's name. "You know the Miss Jackson song? That's my mom's favorite! _Climbin' out the back door, didn't leave a mark..._"

"..._no one knows it's you, Miss Jackson!_" Dipper completed the line. Mabel rolled her eyes dramatically, then re-entered the house. "Damn, that's gotta be the most addictive song ever made. Thanks very much for the free drug habit, Panic! At The Disco! All right then, here goes nothing," said Dipper, leading Sydney into the store and up to the vending machine. He pressed the combination into the keypad, opening the hidden door so he and Sydney could descend the stairs into the basement.

The basement, as it had been for quite a long time, was cluttered and dusty. On the wall, a number of small screens showed images of Gravity Falls itself, live feeds from a vast array of cameras positioned all over the town. In one corner, a small metal rod shot out little pink sparks of electricity at random intervals. Next to this rod was an old Mason jar full of what appeared to be black sand. Sydney picked it up to take a look.

"WHOA! NEVER TOUCH THAT!" Dipper yelled, stunning Sydney so much she nearly dropped the jar.

"Gosh," said Sydney. "I didn't know this sandy stuff was so important to you."

Dipper made an exasperated noise. "It's not sand," he groused. "It's the stuff that's been causing the power to go out."

"What?"

"I've got a bunch of jars just like this," said Dipper, opening the cabinet underneath the metal rod and revealing more jars full of black sand-y stuff. "If you open them, the stuff gets out and cuts off all the power. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's some kind of nanite. You know, a mini-robot?" Sydney looked blankly back at Dipper. "It's basically a little metal thing that floats in the air, about the size of an atom, and it probably eats electricity or something."

"Probably?" Sydney asked.

Dipper held up the metal rod. "And this," he said, "is like a counter-agent to the nanites. It keeps some kind of anti-nanite field going all over the town, but it doesn't kill them all. More like 99%. Put it this way - in the old days, they had this stuff called Purell, you'd wash your hands with it to get rid of bacteria and stuff. But it only had a 99% success rate. So where do the other 1% go?"

"They reproduce and carry on the immunity to the Purell?" Sydney guessed.

"Which is exactly why we in Gravity Falls chose to ban it," Dipper said. "That, and it stinks to high hell. This rod is like the Purell for these nanites. It keeps killing most of them, but then every few hours enough nanites have survived and reproduced to overwhelm it and shut it down, for a couple of minutes, anyway."

Sydney scratched her head. "And you know when they've reproduced enough because...?"

Dipper pulled a pair of small foldable goggles out of his pocket and put them on. "I developed these to see the world as the nanites do," he said. "It's actually pretty amazing stuff, really. They even let you see things going on far away."

"So you've got some kind of psychic invention?" Sydney asked.

"Exactly," said Dipper. "You wanna try? I got a spare pair." He rifled through another drawer and pulled out an identical set of goggles, which he handed off to Sydney. "Now to turn 'em on, just squeeze the frame here, like so." He demonstrated with his own goggles and instantly saw a faintly green-tinted view of another room, somewhere else. A group of people were standing outside, with one man standing inside.

As Sydney's image appeared next to his, signaling that she too had entered the virtual view, Dipper tilted his head to see what the other people were doing. Then, out of nowhere, the one man inside the room pulled a gun and shot the button he'd just pressed.

"Wait, what?" Dipper asked, his voice muffled by the nanite buzz. He took a look at the nearby screen. "Oh no. Oh crap. That's not good."

"What is it?" asked Sydney.

"If I'm not mistaken, this guy" - Dipper pointed to the bald man - "just launched nukes at the East Coast."

Sydney froze. "I take it that's a bad thing?"

"Very bad," said Dipper. "Everything within five miles of the impact burns. Everything within a hundred miles, poisoned for a thousand years." He swallowed and turned back to the man, who was saying something, but Dipper could barely hear it. It sounded like "_I'm a patriot_." Then he turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger.

"Oh crap," Dipper said again. He looked at the people gathered outside - a young blonde woman, a middle-aged blonde who could have been her mother, a tall dark guy, and a heavy dude with glasses and a beard. "They better get in here fast. They don't have much time left!"


End file.
